Brussels, 05/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - Health ministers from the 27 member states of the European Union will hold a meeting in Angers on Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 September under the chairmanship of French Minister Roselyne Bachelot. After Monday's lunch, which will be devoted to discussion on the future of the regional office of the World Health Organisation in Europe, ministers will get down to the main business of this informal meeting: food safety. This issue, which covers protection from various dangers from epidemics to bio-terrorist threats, will be overtaken in two parts. Firstly, there will be speeches by European Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou and Head of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Szuzanna Jakab, then there will be a practical exercise presented by Director General for Health in France Didier Houssin. In the course of this exercise, ministers will have to respond to different problems relating to travel and to do with (1) yellow fever and (2) a respiratory infection, the cause of which is unknown. The aim is to allow ministers to compare their national practices for dealing with health scares and to consider ways of organising a Europe-wide coordinated response, says a press release from the FRENCH Health Ministry, which omits to mention the key role played by the ECDC in this area (see EUROPE/Document No 2501). The results will be presented the following day. Tuesday's lunch will be given to the presentation by the French minister of the priority that the Presidency wants to give to combating Alzheimer's disease. Ministers will also have an exchange of views on the draft directive on cross-border care. (O.J./transl.rt)